Beijing, China (CNN) — I first encountered Xiao Bao at a Beijing dance studio. He was wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt, zooming around the room, passing out lollipops and bottles of Cokes his parents had brought for our CNN crew. He seemed just like any other four-year-old, incredibly cute, giggly and overwhelmingly energetic.
Then he made a quick change, throwing on a black and gold costume and sunglasses, and suddenly he was China’s youngest Michael Jackson impersonator.
As soon as the music started playing he started hip-hopping, pop and locking and moonwalking — like a pro. My favorite part was that he moved his mouth to the English lyrics to “Dangerous,” without actually saying them out loud or understanding what the lyrics mean.
At the end of his routine, he held his last pose an extra few seconds to get the appropriate amount of applause and ooh-ing and aww-ing. He definitely basked in the attention. When asked to tell us his favorite singer, Xiao Bao said in his limited English, “My-co Jay-ke-sun!” Then he collapsed into a fit of giggles.
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